By now you may have at least heard of me - due to the whole handle debacle (writerdave does no equal writerdiva for those of you just tuning in).

My name is Samantha Underwood (nee Camp). I am a recently remarried mother of three outrageously obnoxious teenagers.Two of said children are carbon copies of their mother (with the youngest bearing a frightening resemblence to his father - the long missing hubby #1). They all have my attitude, dry sense of humor, uncontrollable need for sarcasm, and natural auburn hair.

I am presently residing in Abilene Texas (please don't ask) after having lived in Pittsburgh PA for 14 years.

In college, I was Editor-in-chief of the Literary magazine, in spite of the fact that I pretty much suck as a fiction writer (I lean more towards non-fiction and interview type stuff). Also, I was features editor of my college paper (Yea! I love writing features).

I tend to type (and speak) parenthetically so I apologize if this is a pet peeve of yours. It drives my editor at the paper NUTS!!! This is great fun to watch.
Oh right, I write a weekly column about nightlife in ABILENE. This is challenging since very little goes on here, but I am making the most of it.

Oh my, I seem to have rambled on a bit. Too much coffee (my one BIG vice) for the past 5 hours have done this to me.

Anyway, it is great meeting all of you. I am so thankful for this forum and the resurces you guys are soo willing to share.

Hello Samantha! Welcome to the forums! I love the way you write your posts! You must be an excellent writer. I'm still pink. You asked if one forum is enough, well, not that I'm any kind of expert or anything, but I like to visit more than one. I'd love to do some kind of socialogical study on the phenomenon of the writer's subculture, because I find many of the same members from various forums are really literary nomads. In short, you'll see some of the same names on various forums.

There are usually different tid-bits of information that you can get from different writer's forums. The focus is usually tilted in a slightly different angle on each one.

I think this is my favorite place, though, because it reminds me of shoes kicked off at the end of the day.

It really helps to have a place to vent. More so than that, I think you can find a great deal of inspiration in the forums. There's no rule that you have to reply to all the posts. I'm a member of some forums that I rarely make any contributions.

This whole discussion now belongs in its own topic. That said, you can go to as many websites and/or forums as you wish.

Does being on this forum take away from writing? Yes and no. We've had that discussion several times before but I think the general concensus is three-fold:

1) When you're reading another's post or reply to your post, you are READING. You are learning other's points of view, other's opinions and information.
2) When you're writing a new post or replying to a post, you are WRITING. You are expressing your ideas, thoughts and opinions.
3) I think most of us oldtimers think of this place not just as a forum to ask for and impart information, but as a real place where we can belong.

We are writers and generally speaking that means relatively solitary beasts. It is profoundly nice to go to a place, if only a text-based forum, where we belong and feel a sense of community.

Can you spend too much time here? Sure. You can spend too much time doing anything. It is up to each individual to decide how much time is just right.

Welcome, Samantha! Hope you enjoy it here. I visit AW also, but go by pb10220 over there...when their site it up, that is. (Had a little trouble lately logging on.) And when I really am in the mood to glaze over, I visit the philosophy forum.

grassblade

_________________Of all the creatures both in the sea and land,
Only to man Thou hast made known Thy ways,
And put the pen alone into his hand,
And made him secretary of Thy praise.
--George Herbert
www.patriciasbaker.com

I first joined the AW site. Apparently having me as a member so excited them that mere hours after joining, the site came crashing down.

Being a writer is actually a nice change of pace from my other lives; those being mom of teens and actress. It is often quite difficult for me to get 5 minutes to myself (as we speak my 6 month old Jack Russell is whining at my door).

I came to an odd realization this morning (or rather my best friend came to it for me). I mentioned to her that I had decided to become a freelance writer. And she paused momentarily and said "Haven't you been writing that column for over a year?"

"yes," I said.

"Then weren't you already one?"

Damn logic strikes again.

The good thing about this is that it (for some reason) took away alot of my self-induced pressure. I am NOT that new to this. I am just taking a more dedicated stance.

I am being very bad right now. my column is 14 hours PAST deadline - and I am avoiding my editor's calls (he is the most anal retentive human being alive - we don't go to press for 4 days). He harasses me for it then doesn't pay me on time. Argh!

You should see his nostrils flare when he is frustrated. The other freelancer and i love to make him mad just to see it.

I hang out here most of the time, and then one other forum that has only a few members so we are kind of like our own little writers' critique group. I like it here because I love being around people as crazy as me. It is also one of the few forums I've found where we can get along and people aren't constantly bickering. I used to hang out at a third forum but got too frusterated by the constant "I'm right and you're wrong" attitude there.

Welcome to the nut house!!

zubbycat :)

_________________"Read! Read! Read! Write! Write! Write! Rewrite! Rewrite! Rewrite!" - Pierre Berton
"Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words." - Mark Twain